From his long-hair phase to the mohawk – former Indian skipper MS Dhoni has never been shy of trying new hairstyles every now and then. And this, Dhoni has gone back to the old days his latest hairstyle.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni has trumped Virat Kohli and Sachin Tendulkar to be named the most “admired” sports figure in India. The survey was conducted by YouGov, which undertakes various polls and surveys in their online community of over 4 million people.

Team India won the three-match T20I series against England as they cruised past England by seven wickets in the third and the final T20I on Sunday thanks to a century from Rohit Sharma and a four-wicket haul by Hardik Pandya.

It is that time of the year. It is July 7, yet another birthday for India’s most loved cricketer MS Dhoni. With this birthday, Dhoni turns 36 and our statistician Abhishek Kumar present some mind-boggling statistics about him from his illustrious career.

1 — Dhoni is the only Indian till date to be dismissed run out for golden duck on ODI debut. A total of 10 players have achieved this feat in ODIs. Dhoni was the first to fall under this unwanted list in this century. After Dhoni, two more cricketers got this record to their name — Sharafuddin Ashraf (Afghanistan) and Rilee Rossouw (South Africa). Before Dhoni, players to achieve this record are Gavin Rennie (Zimbabwe), Chamara Dunusinghe (Sri Lanka), Ian Healy (Australia), Peter May (Australia), Paul Allott (England), Ijaz Faqih (Pakistan) and Brian Close (England).

The best in the business prepare quietly for tougher battles and Mahendra Singh Dhoni is no exception as he went through a rigorous net session at the National Cricket Academy (NCA), far from public gaze, ahead of England tour.

There is some romantic connection between No.7 jersey and football. Some of the top footballers in the world have donned No.7 jerseys in football and since then the number has become famous in mostly every sport.

Shane Watson scored unbeaten 117 off 57 balls as Chennai Super Kings won their third Indian Premier League title as they beat Sunrisers Hyderabad by 8 wickets on Sunday in the final of IPL 2018 at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. Chennai chased down the total with 9 balls to spare.

India’s MS Dhoni on Friday completed 600 catches as a wicket-keeper in his career across all formats. Hashim Amla became his 600th victim. Dhoni became the third wicket-keeper in the world to achieve the feat and is only behind Mark Boucher and Adam Gilchrist. Let us have a look at top five wicket-keepers with most catches in an international career.

Guaranteed the best video you will see today. Suresh Raina’s adorable daughter Gracia Raina turned two years old on Monday and the left-hander along with his wife hosted a big bash for their daughters special day.

Chennai Super Kings is one small family and their players’ bond is there to be seen off the field as well. Suresh Raina’s daughter Gracia turned 2, and CSK players like MS Dhoni and Harbhajan Singh attended her birthday party.

Chennai Super Kings skipper MS Dhoni’s love for bikes and dogs are known to everyone. And Dhoni once again won the heart of billion of fans as he walked in with a golden retriever in CSK’s dressing room.

Chennai Super Kings skipper MS Dhoni’s love for bikes and dogs are known to everyone. And Dhoni once again won the heart of billion of fans as he walked in with a golden retriever in CSK’s dressing room.

After his brilliant knock of 70 off 34 balls and leading Chennai Super Kings’ to stunning win MS Dhoni was seen doing his father’s duty in the most adorable way. The win helped CSK reach the top of the points table.

One of the greatest finishers in limited-overs cricket, MS Dhoni almost pulled off an improbable run chase once again as Chennai Super Kings lost a nail-biter against Kings XI Punjab by four runs in the Indian Premier League match on Sunday night. Dhoni scored an unbeaten 79 off 44 balls that included six boundaries and five maximums but in the end, his team did not go past the line. Here are some occasions where Dhoni’s solid innings was unable to see his team across the line.

Chennai Super Kings skipper MS Dhoni, who is famous for hitting sixes on the cricket pitch, was seen enjoying a rather unusual outing as he was seen at a shooting range practising his shooting skills with a 9mm handgun. “Shooting guns is more fun than shooting ads”, Dhoni tweeted with a video of him at a shooting range.

Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan was seen having a good time with MS Dhoni’s wife Sakshi Dhoni and her daughter Ziva during the Indian Premier League match between Chennai Super Kings and Kolkata Knight Riders on Tuesday.

Former India skipper MS Dhoni was conferred with the Padma Bhushan by the President of India Ram Nath Kovind at the Rashtrapati Bhawan in New Delhi. Along with Dhoni, India’s ace cueist Pankaj Advani was also given the Padma Bhushan.

Rohit Sharma is arguably one of the cleanest strikers of the ball in T20 cricket and on Wednesday, the India opener demonstrated his prowess with the willow as he went on to register the most number of sixes -75 – by an Indian in T20 cricket. Sharma blasted his way to the record with the fifth six of his innings against Bangladesh in Colombo, thus eclipsing Yuvraj Singh’s tally of 74.

Former Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni has always been known for his hairstyles and off late he was seen wearing a wig of long hair for a chocolate commercial. Let’s have a look at some of his hairstyles over the years that became rage and youth all across the country followed his fashion statement.

Former Indian skipper MS Dhoni has turned back the clock. Dhoni, who made his international debut in 2004, made a style statement with his long hair look. Fans all across the country started to grow their hair.

Team India’s squad for T20I tri-series involving Sri Lanka and Bangladesh was announced on Sunday and there are many players who have been rested for the tour. Rohit Sharma was named stand-in captain of India’s 15-man squad, with Shikhar Dhawan his deputy.

Whether they’re bringing parents pride and joy, or whether they are teaching us how to be more patient and forgiving, children are the best gift from God to anyone. Check out some adorable pictures of cricketers with their babies that will melt your heart.

After being knocked back in the fourth ODI, Team India will look to bounce back in the fifth ODI to take 4-1 lead in the six-match series. Virat Kohli & Co. lost the fourth ODI by 5 wickets in a rain-curtailed match. Here are some reasons why should one watch the fifth ODI at Port Elizabeth.

Team India’s No.4 slot is vacant for quite a long time now and no one has stamp authority to it at the moment. Keeping 2019 World Cup in mind – Virat Kohli and team management will be hoping that they get best man to fill up this slot. Let’s have a look at the players who could be considered for this position.

A total of 1,122 players, including the likes of Chris Gayle, Yuvraj Singh, Joe Root and Shane Watson have signed up on expected lines to be part of the upcoming IPL auction, the BCCI announced on Saturday, 13 January.

As per the latest update, Delhi high court recently issued notice to Dhoni over a petition which states him of restraining from endorsing Fit7 — a gym and fitness chain as the Indian cricketer already has an endorsement agreement with Sportsfit World Private Limited (SWPL).

The recent performances of the Indian men’s and women’s cricket team have shown that India is rising as a potent threat to other teams in international cricket. In Virat Kohli and Mithali Raj, we have two captains, who sit on two contrary ends but are equally effective in leading their respective teams.

Both Men’s and Women’s teams reached the final of their respective ICC tournaments and both lost in the final by the better side. One thing that came out after both the finals was how both Virat and Mithali carried themselves well and spoke post-match about the loss.

This made us think that if there was a combined playing XI of men’s and women’s cricket team, then how would the playing XI look like. After investing a lot of time, we came up with this team and whoa, what a team it is looking like.

Indian wicket-keeper/batsman MS Dhoni has revealed the secret of his success in international cricket. He is one cricketer, who is ageing with each passing day but looking at him, it appears he is fit enough to play for next two to three years.

MS Dhoni recently speaking to the press, Dhoni said, “Fitness is a major part of any sport today whether it is skill-oriented or endurance-oriented. If you have right kind of food and supplement it with training, you can get much more out of yourself, both in physical and mental aspects.”

Former Indian captain MS Dhoni is back at his former IPL home ground Chepauk in Chennai. Before you start jumping the gun, let us clarify that he was not there as part of the Chennai Super Kings but as a brand ambassador of Tamil Nadu Premier League.

While at the stadium, MSD wanted to get the sweet taste of hitting sixes at Chepauk. Dhoni hit three towering sixes against the bowling machine. The fact that he was wearing a yellow jersey, something with which the Chennai Super Kings are related to, make for a great watch for all his fans.

Former Indian captain MS Dhoni has been lately criticised for not winning enough matches for Team India. He has won so many matches for the country from the losing position that expectation from him is immense. His fans, who adore him, look up to him every time India is losing the match. Whether with bat or while in the field captaining and now not even as captain, fans believe that Dhoni can do anything.

His fan following is not based because of any particular shot or a magnificent knock. People love Dhoni for how he carries himself on the field. The fact that he is ready to play under a man who debuted under his captaincy makes him a larger figure in eyes of many in India and around the world.

From October 1st, all the big-hitting, powerful batsmen in the world like David Warner, Kieron Pollard, MS Dhoni will have to work on their bat sizes. The heavy edges of the bats which has more wood built up towards the bottom of the bat, will now have a limitation of 40mm under the new MCC rules, which will be effective from October 1, which was issued in March earlier this year.

MS Dhoni is using a bat which has a width of 45 mm while the likes of Kieron Pollard have already changed bats earlier this year, even though he was using a bigger bat. In an interview in the IPL earlier with the reporters, Pollard had allegedly said that ‘it makes no sense’ to wait until October and hence had already changed it earlier.

They say, don’t judge a book by its cover. In the present age, we judge people through their social media activities. On twitter, some like posting pictures while some like to express their opinions. And cricketers are not an exception. They too have Instagram accounts, opinions, friends and a social life.

We went through many Twitter handles of cricketers and found the most interesting and funny ones. Here, we take you to take a glimpse of the same.

MS Dhoni does it in style. Whether it is about finishing off an innings with the bat or taking the bails off the stumps, Dhoni makes sure that there is him written over everything he does.

On July 15, a day after the ban was lifted from IPL franchise Chennai Super Kings, MS Dhoni posted a picture on his Facebook page which suggested his comeback to the franchise for which he played and captained for as many as 8 years. Not only that but he also won them the title twice while CSK played the final on six occasions.

Two time champions, 6 time finalists and 8 time semi-finalists Chennai Super Kings (CSK) — one of the most loved team with massive fan following is all set to be back in Indian Premier League (IPL) from next season. After facing 2-year ban, CSK are officially back. Following CSK, inaugural edition champions Rajasthan Royals (RR) will also make their comeback in the 2018 edition of IPL.

K George John, who is one of the directors of CSK Cricket Limited (CSKCL) is thrilled with the ban is over and has arranged few activities on social media to mark this occasion. He also hinted the comeback of MS Dhoni as captain in CSK. “If we are given an option of retaining a player, it will definitely be Dhoni. We haven’t yet interacted with Dhoni as his contract with Pune ends later this year. However, we will speak to him in the future as and when we make our plans for the next season,” John said in an exclusive interview to ToI.

Chennai Super Kings are set to make a comeback in the year 2018 edition. The ban imposed on the Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals was lifted on July 14, 2017. One of the most famous teams of the Indian Premier League and two-time champions, CSK are set to announce their arrival with a bang.

If a report in TOI is to be believed, CSK are planning some social media activities on July 14 to make their comeback official with the fans. The social media activities will include past memories of CSK and it will involve their former captain MS Dhoni as well.

There is always an element of surprise with MS Dhoni. Whether his sudden burst in international cricket or his surprise retirement from Tests and announcement to step down as ODI and T20I captain, every time he gave his fans and cricket lovers a shock.

Likewise, MS Dhoni lived up to the expectation when the news of his marriage came out. It was all sudden and his fans could not believe that the most sought-after bachelor at that time had decided to tie the knot.

MS Dhoni turned 36 on July 7 and the whole cricketing world took to Twitter to wish the former Indian cricket team captain a good life ahead.

The most special wish, however, was of Dhoni’s wife Sakshi who posted a picture on her Instagram account. The picture included Dhoni walking with his daughter Ziva with her fingers clutched with his hands.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni turned 36 yesterday and but obviously, Mahi fans all over the world were sent into a frenzy with their demi-god’s birthday. The Indian cricket team too celebrated the captain’s birthday behind closed doors in West Indies. And yet again, MS showed his unpredictable side while cutting the cake as shown in the video below. While usually for his fellow cricketers, it’s always Dhoni who grabs the cricketer while the person tries to cut the cake. This time though, almost like saying that it’s there’s no ‘your way or the highway’, there’s just Mahi way as he himself dumped into the pool of cream.

Former Indian captain MS Dhoni has been surrounded by criticism from every hook and corner after he failed to finish the game against West Indies in the 4th ODI. However, Indian captain Virat Kohli does not see any problem in that. Kohli feels that Dhoni should not be told how to handle a certain situation.

Kohli speaking after India won the 5-match ODI series against Windies, said, “He is striking the ball beautifully, you don’t need to tell him anything in terms of how to play a situation, how to build an innings.

“You have to figure out what kind of wickets you are playing on as well. I was trying to hit the spinners a couple of days in practice and I couldn’t because the wickets were not that great to play strokes, the wicket in the centre was much better.”

Mahendra Singh Dhoni, the living legend, turns 36 today. He has undoubtedly been one of the finest wicket-keeper batsmen in history and his various exploits have bought India countless laurels.

Dhoni has produced several gems throughout his illustrious career that shall always be cherished for a lifetime. However, he has also played many a special knock that has often been overlooked or forgotten. Here is a looking at the five underrated MS Dhoni gems on his birthday.

Former Indian captain MS Dhoni turns 36 today and his close friends and cricketers have taken to the social media to wish the cricketers on his birthday. From Gautam Gambhir to Harbhajan Singh, everyone has wished the former Indian captain on his birthday.

On this day, in 1981, MS Dhoni was born. Mahi, as he is famously called, debuted for India in the year 2004 against Bangladesh at Chittagong. In his first international series, he scored 19 runs and failed to impress the billion people who were in hope of getting a swashbuckling wicketkeeper/batsman for years.

In his next ODI series against Pakistan at home, Dhoni realised his full potential when he smashed 148 in Vizag in 2005. MSD did not look back from there and started a journey which wrote history for the Indian cricket team. What followed was an unbeaten 183 against Sri Lanka in the subsequent series.

Dhoni, however, had confused people about abilities in world cricket in his early days. Everyone accepted him to come and start bashing the bowlers all over the park. After he was given the reins of captaincy in 2007 before the first World Cup T20, he changed his game completely and became synonymous to calmness and composure than his previous image of a belligerent hitter. He, indeed, had the capability to blast bowlers even after attaining calmness but his game had changed enormously. He had become the patience of Rahul Dravid and power of Virender Sehwag. At the same time, he made sure he was Dhoni when he stepped on the cricket field.

Former Pakistan batsman Ramiz Raja has taken a potshot at Indian wicketkeeper-batsman MS Dhoni. As per a report published on Cricketnext.com, Ramiz Raza is surprised to see Dhoni enjoying a Grad A contract with the BCCI.

He was quoted as saying, “You have to acknowledge and respect the status of Test match cricket and it has to come from the cricket boards, in Asia specifically. For example, MS Dhoni retired from Test cricket yet got the A-grade contract from the BCCI, Shahid Afridi retired from Test cricket yet got the A-grade contract from PCB.” Test cricket needs to be respected.

The 5th and final ODI of the series between India and West Indies will be played at Sabina Park, Kingston, Jamaica. After winning the last ODI, host West Indies must be boosted with confidence, however they need to win the final clash to avert the series defeat. On the other hand, India are leading the series by 2-1 and need to win the final ODI to claim the series. Ahead of this final encounter, here are some interesting numbers to look for.

0 instance of drawn bilateral ODI series between India and West Indies. If West Indies managed to win the 5th ODI, then this will be the 1st instance of a drawn bilateral ODI series between India and West Indies. So far, there has been 17 bilateral ODI series has happened between these two teams (excluding the ongoing one) and none has ended with drawn result. Out of 17, India have 9 and West Indies 8.

Indian cricket team lost the 4th ODI against West Indies in a close contest. The loss hurt India but what hurt more was the failure of MS Dhoni to finish the game for India. He made 54 runs off 116 balls in the match where every other batsman failed.

Dhoni was only the second player to score in double digits after Ajinkya Rahane. Both of them were criticized for scoring runs at snail pace and this cited as the reason for India’s loss, in the end, it was believed.

Former Indian captain Sunil Gavaskar, however, disagrees with the allegation that Dhoni was the culprit of the match. In his opinion, it was the team which is to be blamed and not Dhoni alone.

Today is the marriage anniversary of Mahendra Singh Dhoni and his wife, Sakshi Rawat. The two have been married since 2010 and their relationship has been an immensely long one – spanning from their childhood to present days. MS Dhoni, the cricketer who has raised the bar high for anyone who thinks they can outplay his legendary career, has a softer side away from sports when it comes to his soulmate. MS Dhoni: The Untold Story covered some of his love life, things that were kept away from fans until now; but his true sojourn into falling in love is a story that still remains untold.

It started when MS Dhoni was growing up, he and Sakshi’s father both worked in a company called MECON in Ranchi. The two grew up together in the same school, but Sakshi’s family were shifted to Dehradun and the two could no longer be best friends.

The two would only meet again a decade later in Kolkata at Taj Bengal, during Team India’s tenancy in 2007. Sakshi was working as an intern at the hotel and Dhoni was introduced to her by the manager. He took down her number and stayed in contact with her. Thus began their finding each other and after a few months of interest, they were working on a steady relationship.

The one question that has been going on in everyone’s mind is what is Rishabh Pant doing in the Caribbean as part of India’s ODI squad if he is not given a chance in the playing XI?The young wicket-keeper batsman is already being seen as the successor of MS Dhoni. But somehow, he cannot find a place in the playing XI of the Indian team, studded with superstars and players who as per them are ageing like a fine wine.

Former Indian captain MS Dhoni surpassed Adam Gilchrist’s ODI runs as wicketkeeper-batsman to become the second-highest wicketkeeper run-getter in ODIs. Gilchrist had scored 9410 runs in ODIs as wicketkeeper, which MS Dhoni overtook in the third ODI against West Indies.

As a Wicketkeeper Batsman, MS Dhoni has scored 9496 runs in ODIs thusfar whereas Adam Gilchrist has scored 9410 runs. Gilchrist played 5 matches in 1997 as non-wicketkeeper. His total ODI runs are 9619 runs. Dhoni might overcome this record to in the coming few games.

Gilchrist posted a picture of his and MS Dhoni in their IPL jerseys and congratulated him by writing: “Congrats on passing me young fella. Was always a matter of time.”

14 required from 7. MS Dhoni on strike, a big dilemma in his mind. Should he go for a single and then hope to get 13 of the last over or should he try and get a maximum and then hope for Kuldeep Yadav to get him back on strike in the last over? All the way until then, Dhoni had backed himself to take it deep. Thats his thing. Waiting for a mistake on the part of the opposition, maybe a few nerves, maybe a wrong decision. But that didnt happen on Sunday. And Dhonis Taking it deep backfired.

A fuller delivery on off stump from Kesrick Williams, almost too full for Dhoni to get underneath, was heaved by him to long-on. It went flat and straight into Alzarri Josephs hands, who moved a step to the right and ended Indias hopes of sealing the series at Antigua. Dhoni looked at the sky, with eyes closed in disappointment. Then started a slow walk towards the dressing room. Normally he walks fast when he gets out and returns to the dressing room. That wasnt the case here. Disappointment had turned to dejection on the way back.

14 required from 7. MS Dhoni on strike, a big dilemma in his mind. Should he go for a single and then hope to get 13 of the last over or should he try and get a maximum and then hope for Kuldeep Yadav to get him back on strike in the last over? All the way until then, Dhoni had backed himself to “take it deep”. That’s his thing. Waiting for a mistake on the part of the opposition, maybe a few nerves, maybe a wrong decision. But that didn’t happen on Sunday. And Dhoni’s “Taking it deep” backfired.

A fuller delivery on off stump from Kesrick Williams, almost too full for Dhoni to get underneath, was heaved by him to long-on. It went flat and straight into Alzarri Joseph’s hands, who moved a step to the right and ended India’s hopes of sealing the series at Antigua. Dhoni looked at the sky, with eyes closed in disappointment. Then started a slow walk towards the dressing room. Normally he walks fast when he gets out and returns to the dressing room. That wasn’t the case here. Disappointment had turned to dejection on the way back.

Former Indian cricket captain MS Dhoni is ageing like a fine wine. And the master behind the stumps will surely agree with this. He has been phenomenal with the bat in the ongoing West Indies ODI series and with the gloves, he is no less a master.

Aside from his batting prowess and keeping excellence, the other thing which makes Dhoni a sight to watch is his words while being behind the stump.

Dhoni has been producing some gems through the stump mic. Over the years, the legend of Dhoni has been built on the grounds of finishing the innings, leading from the front, keeping calm and speaking some rib-tickling one-liners from behind the stump. All these traits will eventually make us all miss MS when he bids goodbye to the game.

In the 3rd ODI against West Indies, Dhoni produced three more such gems.

One of them was a message for Ashwin who missed the run-out chance as he was busy appealing. Dhoni did not mince his words while giving a dose of advice to India’s best bowler at the moment. He said, “Ball dekho, Ash. Kahan dhyaan hai? (Look at the ball, Ashwin. Where are you lost?)”

The 4th ODI of the 5-match series between India and West Indies will be once again played at Sir Vivian Richards Stadium, North Sound, Antigua. Visitors India lead the series by 2-0. India beat West Indies in the last ODI by a comrehensive margin of 93 runs. Hosts West Indies will be eager to bounce back by winning the 4th ODI but they have been lacking in their batting department. Ahead of this contest at Antigua, let us have a look at some interesting numbers.

2011 The last time India took a lead of 3-0 in an ODI series against West Indies. India have a chance to do the same against West Indies. Before 2011, India never achieve this feat in an ODI series against West Indies. Moreover, the last time West Indies bounced back against India after two-down in an ODI series in 2011-12, which was played in India.

Former India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni has etched his name in the history books of ODI cricket edging past Australian legend Adam Gilchrist in the run-scoring charts. He has become the second highest scoring wicket-keeper batsman in the history of ODI cricket, crossing Adam Gilchrist. He now only trails Sri Lankan legend Kumar Sangakkara in the run-scoring charts.

Dhoni now has amassed 9,442 runs after his match-winning innings against West Indies during the 3rd ODI of the series at Antigua. He has played 294 ODIs averaging 51.31 with 10 centuries to his name. Gilchrist had scored 9410 runs in 282 matches at an average of 35.64. Dhoni though still trails Sri Lankan legend Kumar Sangakkara who has scored a mammoth 13,341 runs from 360 matches at an average of 43.74 with 23 tons.

Former Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni has compared himself to fine wine after his match-winning innings against West Indies in the third ODI at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in Antigua. Dhoni scored 78 off just 79 deliveries on a pitch which was very difficult to bat on. Dhoni was awarded the man of the match for his blistering performance.

After the match, Dhoni had a perfect answer for the various critics who have recently questioned his place in the Indian team after the emergence of various youngsters. Dhoni answered how he was progressing with age, “It’s like wine.”

Mahendra Singh Dhoni was back to his blistering best in the third ODI of 5-match series between India and West Indies at Antigua, with his innings helping India seal a comfortable victory. The pitch was a tough one to bat on but Dhoni used all his experience to help India reach a competitive score. In due process, he broke some stunning records. Here are some of them:

5 Indian batsmen to have scored 12,000 runs in List A cricket before MS Dhoni. He is the 6th Indian in the list after Sachin Tendulkar (21,999 runs), Sourav Ganguly (15,622), Rahul Dravid (15,271), Mohammad Azharuddin (12,941) and Yuvraj Singh (12,188). West Indies have also produced 6 batsmen with 12,000 runs in List A cricket, while Australia have produced 7 and England have most with 18 players in the list. Overall, Dhoni became 48th batsman to achieve this milestone in List A cricket.

MS Dhoni’s superb innings helped India set up a 93-run win over West Indies in the third One-Day International (ODI) at The Sir Vivian Richards Stadium at Antigua. Dhoni top-scored for India with an unbeaten 78 off 79, to help set West Indies a target of 252, under testing conditions.
However, Dhoni did get some help at the other end – first from Ajinkya Rahane and then from Kedar Jadhav. Rahane continued his impressive form in the series into this game and played a steady innings. After India lost Shikhar Dhawan (2) and Virat Kohli (11) early, Yuvraj Singh and Rahane steadied the innings to a certain extent. Out of form Yuvraj, scored a useful 39 off 55 and in the process bulit a 64-run stand for the third wicket with Rahane.

MS Dhoni became the sixth Indian batsman to go past 12,000 List A runs. He achieved this feat during the third One-Day International (ODI) between India and West Indies at Antigua.

The five other Indians to have crossed 12,000 runs are Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, Mohammad Azharuddin and Yuvraj Singh. Among these, only Yuvraj and Dhoni are active cricketers. Barring Yuvraj, the other five in the list have led India at some point in their careers. Going into the third ODI against West Indies, Dhoni needed a further 54 runs to get to 12,000 runs. He ended up top scoring for India with an unbeaten 78 off just 79 deliveries. This is Dhoni’s 367th List A match, out of which he has played 294 matches at the international level for India.

Pakistan cricket team players are still not over with the Champions Trophy 2017 victory. They are being loved by the countrymen for putting up a great fight in the final and opener Fakhar Zaman is not an exception.

The left-handed batsman, who scored a brilliant hundred in the final against the arch-rivals India, said that he was surprised to the see the Indian captain Virat Kohli applauding his effort in the match with the bat.

Pakpassion.net quoted him as saying, “When I was batting well, Kohli and others were saying things to me so when I got to hundred I thought they would ignore it but when I looked at Kohli, I saw that he was looking down but graciously clapping for me.”

If you followed IPL 2017, you must know who Harsh Goenka is. He is the brother of the owner of Rising Pune Supergiant, an IPL franchise. He is a business tycoon but fortunately or unfortunately, is known for his tweets which slammed the former Indian cricket team captain MS Dhoni for his poor performances in IPL 2017.

As soon as IPL got over, Goenka stopped tweeting on stuff related to cricket. However, he thought of making a comeback and this time he has targetted the present Indian cricket team captain Virat Kohli through a tweet.

Former Pakistan captain Azhar Ali, who was a member of the Pakistan squad who won the historic ICC Champions Trophy title against India has praised the Indian team players and is grateful to them for clicking pictures with his kids. He took to his personal Twitter account to thank the Indian players.

He especially thanked former Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, current captain Virat Kohli and left-handed batsman Yuvraj Singh for their graciousness. Azhar who is widely expected to become the captain of the Pakistan Test team now that Misbah-ul-Haq has retired, tweeted:

India beat Bangladesh in the second semi-final of the ICC Champions Trophy 2017 by a big margin of 9 wickets. India chased down the total of 265 runs in just the 41st over as Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli played marvellous knocks of unbeaten 123 and 96 runs respectively.

However, the game-changer in the game was the timely spell of Kedar Jadhav, who scalped the important wickets of Tamim Iqbal and Mushfiqur Rahim, who were top scorers for Bangladesh in the match. Both of them fell at a time when they were looking to up the temp. It was a masterstroke decision from Virat Kohli. But in the press conference, the Indian captain mentioned that it was not alone his decision to bring Jadhav into the attack but also Dhoni’s.

An India-Pakistan final in an ICC tournament is something which has all the makings of a relishing contest. In 2007, when India met Pakistan to clinch the first WT20 title, it was the first such occasion when the arch rivals were to fight to become a world champion.

Before the tournament started in September 2007, nobody had expected India and Pakistan to reach the final of the tournament. Both these cricketing nations had a horrific time in the 2007 ODI World Cup, 5 months before the T20 World Cup.

It was time to make up for the disastrous outing in the ODI World Cup for both the countries. Led by young captains, MS Dhoni and Shoaib Malik, both India and Pakistan were oozing with confidence.

India and South Africa are playing a virtual quarter-final in the ICC Champions Trophy match in the second-last group B game. It’s a must-win game for both sides and this is a game where key moments can turn the game on its head. It’s also a situation where the big players jump to the occasion. One such player is AB de Villiers.

Former Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoini has taken major potshots at the ICC’s decision to persist with the Duckworth-Lewis method. The 2017 edition of the ICC Champions Trophy has been marred by rain delays due to inclement weather conditions in London and Birmingham, with most games being interrupted by rain.

The ICC for this has been criticized in various circles for holding the tournament in England, a country which has gained great infamy for its unpredictable weather. They have also been criticized for persisting with Duckworth-Lewis, a method which has been branded outdated and obsolete by many experts. The method arguably cost New Zealand a victory over Australia and then Australia a victory over New Zealand.

Star Indian team players MS Dhoni, Yuvraj Singh and Rohit Sharma revealed the most dangerous bowlers they have faced in their career. The superstar trio were at Virat Kohli Charity Ball and sports presenter Alan Wilkins hosted a brief interview.

Wilkins asked them a question on the most dangerous bowler they have faced to which each one of them answered one by one.

MS Dhoni said that the toughest bowler he has faced in his career is Shoaib Akhtar. Dhoni said that Akhtar could bowl deadly bouncers and could surprise with a yorker. Also, he could bowl a beamer at you anytime. It is a co-incident that Dhoni, in the initial phase of his career, did well against Pakistan. His first century was scored against Pakistan only where he smashed 148 runs.

Ravindra Jadeja produced a beautiful performance against Pakistan in the Champions Trophy clash. But his best performance came after the team was going back to the hotel in the bus when he clicked a sleeping MS Dhoni who was sitting behind him.

The picture is hilarious and cute at the same time. This is a never-seen-before MS Dhoni, who is caught sleeping in the team bus.

Indian cricket team captain Virat Kohli has said that he sometimes have differences of opinion with former skipper MS Dhoni but they end up on agreeing on most of the things.

He said in the pre-match press conference, “Obviously, we won’t agree to everything, but more often than not we end up agreeing to the same thing because we are thinking in the same manner, which is to make the team win regardless of what we sort of plan.”

Kohli has been in the news over the alleged spat between him and Indian cricket team coach Anil Kumble, which Kohli ridiculed in the press conference saying that no one should speculate what is going on in the dressing room sitting far away from it.

Former South African fast bowler Makhaya Ntini has come out in praise of former Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni, claiming one can never count the wicket-keeper batsman out. Makhaya Ntini plied his trade with MS Dhoni earlier in the IPL in Chennai Superkings. Makhaya Ntini also spoke highly about India’s pace bowling attack, especially Bhuvneshwar Kumar heading into the ICC Champions Trophy.

Speaking to Hindustan Times, the legendary pace bowler said on Dhoni, “You never doubt Dhoni. He can never be finished. That guy can take the game away any given time. You give him the game, he’ll do what he wants to do. He’s a legend. The moment you write him off, he rises up.”

Rising Pune Supergiant coach Stephen Fleming has said that former Indian captain MS Dhoni can play till 2019 World Cup. Fleming believes that Dhoni is balancing his life quite well and he most importantly, he is aware that he needs to perform and is seeing himself as one of the key players in the next World Cup.

“There are a lot of players who can do that, but there is only one MS Dhoni at the moment. I think his track record deserves the first crack at it. He has balance in his life now so he can get fit and come back fresh. I think he will do it. He is aware that he needs to keep performing and that’s when great players are at their best. If you get too comfortable you are not at your best”, Fleming told ESPNCricinfo.

One of the most successful coaches in IPL added, “He is not arrogant enough to assume that he will make it through to the 2019 World Cup. He’s made it clear that he wants to play that World Cup but he knows he also has to do well to do that. He’s desperate to keep performing. If he feels he stops performing and starts to lag and becomes a hindrance, then he will give up the game.”

Indian all-rounder Hardik Pandya has credited former Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni for giving him tips on how to finish an innings. Pandya blasted 80 off just 54 deliveries against Bangladesh in the second warm-up match batting from the No.6 position. His innings will have greatly eased India’s fears heading into the tournament as there were worries that India was light on a lower-order finisher.

MS Dhoni has stepped down from the Indian ODI and T20I captaincy but he remains the senior-most member of the team. Before the first warm-up game against New Zealand in London, Indian captain Virat Kohli did a pep talk while the team was in a huddle and after he was done with it, MS Dhoni too had a lot to say to the players.

He looked very engrossed while speaking to the players. Champions Trophy means a lot to the Indian team as they are the defending champions. India won the trophy in 2013 under the able leadership of MS Dhoni and now India’s most successful ODI skipper is back to England as just a member of the tea

MS Dhoni is someone who’ll always have eyeballs on him when’s out to bat. Right from his walk to the ground to entering the crease, all eyes remain transfixed on the TV screen while MS Dhoni gets ready for another innings. And especially during the death overs, who wouldn’t want to see MS Dhoni smashing the bowlers all over the park?

Defending a title is never easy, especially when it is a world title like the Champions Trophy. In its past seven editions, only Australia has managed to successfully defend its Champions Trophy title – in 2006 and 2009.

India, the winners of the Champions Trophy in its last edition in England, will be eager to clinch the title again. While many have already picked the home team England as the favourites of the tournament, we have a few reasons to believe that India will go on to defend their Champions Trophy title this year. Have a look.

The sea of experience and power in India’s batting:

Batting has always been India’s biggest strength. And this time too India has an incredibly robust batting line-up for the Champions Trophy in England. Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan – the successful opening duo from the last Champions Trophy; Dhawan, in fact, was the highest scorer of the previous edition – are back at the top and will be eager to dominate. Virat Kohli, despite the off-colour past few months, is certain to revel in the tournament as he loves the big stage and the responsibility of being the best batsman of the side. The classy Ajinkya Rahane provides solidity to the batting order and is followed by the vastly experienced Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Yuvraj Singh. Both had shown glimpses of their best in the last ODI series against England recently and will definitely be raring to go in such a big tournament. India has also found an able finisher in Kedar Jadhav, who can also step up and play the long innings as he showed in his stunning hundred against England in Pune this year. The likes of Hardik Pandya and Ravindra Jadeja lower down the order can also escalate the scoring with their hard-hitting. Clearly, this is India’s most well-rounded batting order in recent times.

Sushant Singh Rajput has come a long way in the Bollywood film industry, his claim to fame after his debut in Abhishek Kapoor’s ‘Kai Po Che!’ brought him into the limelight and made him one of the new favourites in the filmy scene. The actor’s confident aura and masculine personality made him the right person for the job as lead role in MS Dhoni: The Untold Story.

Sushant really had to get under the skin of his role and become a true imitation of MS Dhoni. While his young looks may easily pass off as a young Dhoni, his authenticity had to match with the legend too. Speaking on his role, the actor commented, “All the good takes I give are those where I don’t know what I did. The moment I am talking about something that is very close to me, or gives me excitement, I am fidgety, I get restless. Then, I don’t know what I am doing. But at the same time, if you ask me, am I confident? Of course, I am, I can pull off a Dhoni.”

Sushant explained how he began practicing cricket at the Maharashtra Cricket Association (MCA) with Kiran More and Sachin walked down to the field to ask Kiran More which team Sushant was representing, due to the MCA only allowing state-level professionals to play. Kiran More told Sachin that Sushant was actually an actor preparing to play as MS Dhoni in a studio biopic. Sushant said that, “Sachin didn’t say anything (in reply) but that expression on his face was priceless, it said everything.”

Indian skipper Virat Kohli has said that the travelling Men in Blue are more than capable of defending their Champions Trophy, scheduled to be played from 1st of June. The reason the 28-year-old batsman has cited is that his squad is more mature and is a lot fitter this time around.

India will lock horns against their arch rivals Pakistan on 4th on June in Birmingham, before bracing themselves for the clashes against Sri Lanka and South Africa. Kohli, while speaking about the squad, said that his players have gained enough experience to give their opponents a run for their money. He also added that despite his men are relatively young, they are mature enough to take the mantle.

“This year the team is a lot fitter, the cricketers are a lot more mature because that was a very young group four years ago,” Kohli told reporters after India touched down in London for the tournament starting on June 1.

“It has gained a lot of experience in the last three or four years… We are in a good head-space going into this tournament.”

India and Mumbai Indians off-spinner Harbhajan Singh has claimed that he doesn’t receive the same selection privileges like former Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni, despite winning Indian many matches and having played for the country for 19 years. Mahendra Singh Dhoni was selected for the ICC Champions Trophy despite being in poor form and chief Indian selector MSK Prasad claimed that the experience he brought to the squad was invaluable.

Speaking to NDTV, Harbhajan praised Dhoni’s contribution to Indian cricket. “Yes there is no doubt that Dhoni brings a lot to the table apart from his batting, whether he is in form or not. Obviously we have seen that he is not hitting the ball as well as we have seen. He has been captain and he understands the game and having him in the middle will help lot of youngsters and people out there who are not feeling great in particular moments. So he has that edge.”

But Harbhajan also added that he did not enjoy the same privileges as MS Dhoni in the Indian cricket. “But when it comes to me. I do feel that we are not given that sort of privilege. We too have played for 19 years and won and lost India matches. I have won two World Cups too. So this privilege is for some players, and for some it is not and I’m one of those for whom this privilege is not there. I don’t know why that is the case.”

MS Dhoni has a habit of surprising his fans. He arrived when nobody knew he will. He smashed the Pakistan bowlers in Vizag in 2004 to launch himself in international cricket and from there on he never looked back. Even when he stepped down as captain both the times, he managed to floor everyone.

Whether it was his sudden marriage or his announcement of Test retirement, he has done everything suddenly but quietly. There were rumours that when he stepped down from ODI and T20I captaincy he was playing video game in his room. That’s MS Dhoni, in a nutshell for you.

IPL 2017 has not been a great experience for him. The talks are in the air that he might retire soon. If he fails in Champions Trophy and even he if does well, the thought of retirement should be going on in his mind now, not because he is unfit to play or his form is bad but because Dhoni has never let his own image come between him and the betterment of Indian cricket.

Everyone knows Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni are India’s greats in cricket, with the two in stiff competition for being people’s favourites. But when it comes to their choice of vehicles, just like their playstyle, they are at opposing ends of the spectrum. Virat prefers one of his supercars for a good ride, while MS Dhoni will always stick to his bikes. Virat, who is known for his high-priced supercars, has a four-wheeler fascination and a garage of luxury cars to match it. Kohli has a range of ultra-expensive Audis, which he chooses and rides like a fashion statement. It’s rare not to see him taking out one of his SUV or smaller cars, depending on his whims.

Kohli was recently interviewed by News18 and was asked why he preferred cars while Dhoni preferred bikes, Kohli answered, “It depends on how you want to control your automobile. He (Dhoni) loves riding bikes while I’m more into cars. He enjoys the car experience as well. But ya, personally I’m not too confident on a two-wheeler. So that’s one reason I don’t take it up. But ya, he’s a big bike-freak.”

IPL 2017 is over but it has left some ever-lasting moments which will be etched in our memories forever. These are not the big sixes, breath-taking shots or rippling wickets but the moments when the human values were more important than just winning the game.

Here are five such moments which won everyone’s heart:

David Warner stops midway while taking a run to hand the shoe to the bowler: It was a magical moment, something which is rarely seen on the field in a cricket match these days. Warner while taking a run stopped midway as the bowler had fallen on the ground without one of his shoes. He picked the show up and handed it to him and then continued his running to reach the batting crease. It was a little hilarious sight but something which tells a lot about Warner’s character.

Ajinkya Rahane signals a six after taking a stunner: Ajinkya Rahane is one of the finest sweepers. In the Qualifier 1, Rahane took a blinder near the boundary ropes but his one leg touched the rope. The catch was taken and captain Steve Smith started celebrating but Rahane immediately signalled as out

The Indian Premier League has given some of the best performances of T20 cricket. From Jaydev Unadkat’s hat-trick to Rishabh Pant’s blistering knocks, we saw it all. At the same time, there were some big names who failed in this tournament. These failures brought the failure of their IPL teams as well and this is the reason we, here, make a playing XI of the biggest flops of IPL 2017.

Year 2010. Occasion – IPL Final. Batsman – Kieron Pollard. Wicket-keeper – MS Dhoni. Forward it seven years down the line and history has repeated itself today in the all-important final between Mumbai Indians and Rising Pune Supergiants.

Down the memory Lane: MS Dhoni remains one of the smartest captains around and during his prime back then, he understood it pretty early that Kieron Pollard always preferred to hit it straight rather than square or drive. His favourite hitting positions have been down the ground and the cow corner region. Hence, when Albie Morkel was bowling against Mumbai with Kieron Pollard on strike, he had the fielder, Matthew Hayden at straight mid-off, almost as close to as long off and as predicted, Morkel bowled full, Pollard tried to go down the ground and that resulted in the ball going straight to Matthew Hayden who was fielding there.

Rising Pune Supergiant coach Stephen Fleming has worked hard behind the curtains to bring Pune franchise back on track. His work has been unseen but not ineffective.

But Fleming credits the success of the team to the relationship of MS Dhoni and captain Steve Smith. Speaking to NDTV sports, he said, “Much (has been) made of the relationship. Certainly sitting with them, it has been influential for the youngsters, beneficial for the senior players, and it has been helpful for me. So it has been (a) great dynamic to be part of.”

Fleming backed Dhoni despite the former Indian captain’s slim form with the bat. He said, “Dhoni is one of the most successful players in the last decade to have played. Another opportunity to win the final for him.”

It has all come down to a heavyweight clash between Mumbai Indians and Rising Pune Supergiant in the final of the 2017 edition of the VIVO IPL. The battle between the two Maharashtra rivals is an apt final as the two teams have been the best sides in the tournament finishing in the top two spots in the group stages. So it promises to be a match for the ages in the final in the history of the IPL.

The two teams have already clashed three times this season, with Pune winning all the three matches. Mumbai will no be desperate to reverse the trend which has developed this season and would be eager to prove that Rising Pune Supergiant isn’t their bogey team. Both teams will be heavily dependent on a certain set of players to deliver the goods for them in the big clash at the Rajiv Gandhi Stadium in Hyderabad.

Rising Pune Supergiant owner Sanjiv Goenka spoke on the future of his IPL franchise as it completes its 2-year contract in 2017. Both Pune and Gujarat’s contract with the league was just for 2 years and with the ban lifting on Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals, the two new IPL teams might have to make way for the old ones.

Speaking to TOI on the eve of the big final against Mumbai Indians in Hyderabad, Goenka said that only time will tell what future holds for the team. He said, “Time will tell. I think all in all, we’ve achieved what we wanted to achieve. This year has been so much better for us but when I say ‘we achieved what we wanted to’, I mean beyond just sport.”

Goenka also spoke at length about whatever was being spoken about MS Dhoni and how difference had been create between him and former Indian captain since the day Steve Smith was named the skipper of RPS. He said, “I would be foolish to say that I wasn’t aware about what was happening (replacing Dhoni with Smith as captain). First of all, let me clarify, MS wasn’t removed as skipper. He was captain for one season but we had just one year and we wanted to try out different things. The whole idea was to not allow the focus to shift and that’s how we’ve kept it. Smith and MS have combined extremely well. His strategies on the field have been hugely impactful.”

It was supposed to be a battle between David and Goliath but it isn’t anymore. Rising Pune Supergiant started as the underdog in IPL 2017 and played like one halfway through it but made an impactful comeback with back-to-back wins. Mumbai Indians, on the other hand, played like Champions throughout, losing only to the Rising Pune Supergiant in the league stages. In fact, RPS is the only team in IPL 2017 which has beaten Mumbai.

The two teams each other in the IPL 2017 final for the fourth time this season and the odds have changed. There is no David and there is no Goliath. This is a battle of equals and the one surpasses who surpasses the other, will go onto become the champions of Indian Premier League’s tenth edition.

Rising Pune Supergiant owner Sanjiv Goenka said in an interview given to Hindustan Times that RPS captain Steve Smith’s mind is ahead that of former skipper MS Dhoni.

MS Dhoni has not been in great form with the bat in IPL 2017 but Goenka had words of appreciation for him. He said, “MS is one of the greatest minds I have interacted with. And he is the best wicketkeeper in the world.”

However, when comparing the former and present skipper, he said that Steve Smith’s mind is ahead of Dhoni. He told HT, “The one mind ahead of Dhoni’s is Smith’s. My brief to Smith was: ‘win the championship’.”

Speaking on Steve Smith’s brilliance as a captain, he said, “It’s difficult to believe the way he has planned some dismissals, the tact and firmness with which he has dealt with tricky situations and the win-or-nothing attitude he has been able to infuse in the team, get them to gel as a unit. And he’s gone out in the strategic timeouts to tell batsmen to either score 30 off the next 12 balls or get out. If we had a bad start, it was because Smith was out with food poisoning.”

Former Australian captain Michael Clarke has praised former Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni and has backed India’s decision to pick him in the 15-man squad for the upcoming ICC Champions Trophy in England. Dhoni played a crucial knock of 40 in Rising Pune Supergiant’s qualifier in the IPL against Mumbai Indians which led them to reaching the final of the IPL.

Praising Dhoni’s innings, Clarke told India Today, “That changed the game. The fact that Pune managed to get over the 160-run mark, the confidence in the change room was different. Pune took the momentum walking in to the field. The pitch was such it took some time for the batsmen to get in and MS did take some time but he knew he could change it at the end.”

Harsh Goenka who has alienated many a Rising Pune Supergiant fans due to his perceived vendetta against former Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni. He has repeatedly failed to give credit to MS Dhoni for his good performances and is also believed to be the main reason behind why Dhoni was sacked as the skipper of Rising Pune Supergiant.

Finally, Goenka has taken to his Twitter account to praise Mahendra Singh Dhoni, whose innings helped Rising Pune Supergiant to beat Mumbai Indians and reach the finals of the 10th edition of the IPL.

With the likes of celebrities regularly representing their teams and a bunch of suspense and promotion, IPL 10 has had a wider hype than any previous year. Celebrities are all in favour of keeping the feeling alive and often appear in the audience or in candid moments. Now that we are into the mid-phase of the season, it’s great to know what some celebrities have to say about their favourite cricketer in this battle of giants. One of these celebrities – the enigmatic Ranveer Singh.

Ranveer has made it big in a short span of time, becoming one of the most talked about personalities in the Bollywood scene and a highly regarded actor in the industry. Ranveer showed up with IPL commentators Gaurav Kapur and former cricketers Aakash Chopra and Ajay Jadeja for an episode of Extraaa Innings. Ranveer commented on the most skilled cricketer in the game; according to him, there is only one cricketer who stands out as perfect after Sachin Tendulkar, and that is MS Dhoni. Ranveer said that if people think MS Dhoni is out of his element, to remember that ‘form is temporary, class is permanent’. Ranveer stated that when the big games come out in the later parts of IPL 10, ‘the lion is going to roar’ (or in other words, MS Dhoni will bring out the big guns).

Sunrisers Hyderabad fast bowler Siddharth Kaul has been quite exceptional with the ball in IPL 2017. He has bowled some crucial death overs for his side, taking the team to victory.

Kaul, while talking to PTI, said that adding variation to his armoury has helped him become a tough bowler. He said, “If you have variation, then it is hard for the batsman to read you. The batsman keeps guessing what this guy is going to bowl. From that time onwards, I tried to perfect it and now it is helping me a lot.”

After MS Dhoni hit Kaul on the last ball of the last over in one of the IPL games this season, the former Indian captain had come to him and spoke for a long time. Kaul speaking on how inspirational was it like to have a word with Dhoni, said, “It was really good, he is a great finisher of the game in the shorter format, in any format, you can say that. It was a golden chance for me to bowl in front of the best batsman of T20 and ODIs.”

MS Dhoni has had a very average IPL 2017. Dhoni was under immense scrutiny when he stepped into the field to play in as non-captain in an IPL game. in the ICC Champions Trophy, he had an average outing as well.

The Champions Trophy was a big opportunity for Dhoni to add a personal milestone to his name. His enthusiasts say that Dhoni never played for the personal milestones. However, if that is true, then he needs to evade it for a while. He is no longer the captain of the team and it is about time he starts seeing opportunities and latches on. Records suggest that Dhoni has scored just 10 centuries in the ODI format. One could say that it is because he bats lower down the order. But even then, the numbers are less. Also, the fact that Dhoni has scored all of them in the Indian subcontinent and mostly in India reflects on his failure to convert small scores into big ones abroad.

Former Indian captain Kapil Dev is backing India to retain the ICC Champions Trophy next month in England. The World Cup-winning Indian captain was quoted as saying on cricket.com.au that the way India are playing, they have the ability to win the tournament.

Kapil said, “The way they are playing, yes, definitely…I believe we have the team and the ability.”

“I know the opposition is very very tough in England. The good part is that we won last time when we played there and that is an advantage.”

England are a team to beat

At the same time, Kapil said that it will be a tough task beating England in their home. Kapil said, “You can’t rule out any team but England will be very very tough playing in England and their team is quite good. They know the conditions better than anybody else.”

Elan Group, a real estate developer, have gifted the former Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni a well-serviced luxury apartment in one of their projects in Gurugram.

Besides that, MS Dhoni, who recently shifted to his new farmhouse ‘Kailashpati’ in Ranchi, was gifted an one acre of land by Lal Gopal Sharan Nath Shahdeo in his hometown in Kanthitar and if the reports are to be believed, the veteran is planning to built a farmhouse there as well in order to spend some quality time with his wife Sakshi and his daughter Ziva after his retirement. Right at this very moment, he is piloting the construction work of the same.

“His unparallelled service and contribution towards Indian cricket is commendable. May he keep on inspiring the young generation for years to come,” said Rakesh Kapoor, chairman of Elan Group. The cost of the apartment is Rs 1.5 crore and it measures 1,000 sq ft.

A lot has been said and done about the former Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s recent T-20 form. Saurav Ganguly was the first one to point out the fact that the Ranchi-born veteran his losing his magic and further went on to say that he isn’t sure whether Dhoni is a better T-20 player or not.

Several stars, most notably, Australia legend Brett Lee and Smith Smith then went on to praise Dhoni’s marksmanship and leadership on the field. And now, Rising Pune Supergiant’s batsman Manoj Tiwary has come out and has said that Dhoni’s co-operation with skipper Steve Smith has been a key element in their team’s recent rise.

MS Dhoni, on his part, hasn’t spoken much with his bat this season, as he has only scored 235 runs in 12 IPL games – with 61* being his highest runs. Tiwary, while speaking ahead of RPS’ game against Delhi Daredevils on Thursday at the Ferozeshah Kotla, said:

Dhoni is in the best position to guide the players. He has a 360 degree view on the field. He manoeuvres the field as Smith is also under pressure because he has to make decisions as to who to bowl from each end. It is not humanly possible to look at each and every thing, Tiwary said.

A lot has been said and done about the former Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s recent T-20 form. Saurav Ganguly was the first one to point out the fact that the Ranchi-born veteran his losing his magic and further went on to say that he isn’t sure whether Dhoni is a better T-20 player or not.

Several stars, most notably, Australia legend Brett Lee and Smith Smith then went on to praise Dhoni’s marksmanship and leadership on the field. And now, Rising Pune Supergiant’s batsman Manoj Tiwary has come out and has said that Dhoni’s co-operation with skipper Steve Smith has been a key element in their team’s recent rise.

MS Dhoni, on his part, hasn’t spoken much with his bat this season, as he has only scored 235 runs in 12 IPL games – with 61* being his highest runs. Tiwary, while speaking ahead of RPS’ game against Delhi Daredevils on Thursday at the Ferozeshah Kotla, said:

“Dhoni is in the best position to guide the players. He has a 360 degree view on the field. He manoeuvres the field as Smith is also under pressure because he has to make decisions as to who to bowl from each end. It is not humanly possible to look at each and every thing,” Tiwary said.

ICC Champions Trophy 2017 is just 20 days away and the excitement is only growing up among the fans. Finally, India have announced their 15-man squad too, led by Virat Kohli and featuring the regulars faces – MS Dhoni, Ajinkya Rahane and Yuvraj Singh. Opening batsman Rohit Sharma will make a return to the ODI team too along with Mohammed Shami.

Here, we look at the full squads of all the teams participating in the tournament:

Indian chairman of selectors MSK Prasad has praised former Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni after announcing India’s 15-man squad for the ICC Champions Trophy. There were some people doubting whether MS Dhoni should have been selected in the squad or not with the emergence of young talented wicket-keeper batsmen such as Rishabh Pant, Sanju Samson, and Ishan Kishan. But Prasad has given Dhoni his full support ahead of India’s campaign in the Champions Trophy, where they will be heading in as defending champions.

Prasad speaking to the media said, “How many of us still believe that MSD is still the best wicketkeeper in the world? We all believe he is still the best wicketkeeper in the world. We are only talking and focussing on his batting form.”

Prasad also praised Dhoni’s leadership skills. “He is an invaluable asset to the team and his inputs in crunch situations, he has got one of the best brains. He is the best person to guide Virat.”

Lalit Modi the former commissioner of Indian Premier League has made some sensational claims on Instagram posting an image which he claims is the contract of Mahendra Singh Dhoni which he signed at N. Srinivasan-owned India Cements. The contract reveals the finer details of pay which Mahendra Singh Dhoni earned as a Vice-President of India Cements.

It is not a hidden fact that there is no blood lost between Lalit Modi and N. Srinivasan. Lalit Modi has often claimed that N. Srinivasan hatched the conspiracy which got him sacked from the IPL, which led to him fleeing the country. He has continued bashing N. Srinivas on any opportunity afforded to him. He has now hit back at N. Srinivas as well as MS Dhoni, whose relationship with the former BCCI President has been often speculated.

Modi has posted an image on Instagram, which is Dhoni’s alleged India Cements contract:

Lalit Modi the former commissioner of Indian Premier League has made some sensational claims on Instagram posting an image which he claims is the contract of Mahendra Singh Dhoni which he signed at N. Srinivasan-owned India Cements. The contract reveals the finer details of pay which Mahendra Singh Dhoni earned as a Vice-President of India Cements.

It is not a hidden fact that there is no blood lost between Lalit Modi and N. Srinivasan. Lalit Modi has often claimed that N. Srinivasan hatched the conspiracy which got him sacked from the IPL, which led to him fleeing the country. He has continued bashing N. Srinivas on any opportunity afforded to him. He has now hit back at N. Srinivas as well as MS Dhoni, whose relationship with the former BCCI President has been often speculated.

Modi has posted an image on Instagram, which is Dhoni’s alleged India Cements contract:

The BCCI selectors have announced the squad for ICC Champions Trophy 2017. Virat Kohli will be leading the side, comprising MS Dhoni, Ajinkya Rahane as other important players.

India will be playing their first game against arch-rivals Pakistan on June 4. It is expected to be a high-octane contest as both the teams will be clashing with each other after a long time. The last time India and Pakistan played in a game was in WT20 in 2016 where India emerged victorious.

The selectors have picked a pace-heavy attack is a must in conditions such as England. The English conditions suit the pace bowling the most and the trio of Umesh Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah and Bhuvneshwar Kumar.

Ravichandran Ashwin leads the spin attack, which also has Ravindra Jadeja in it. The off-spinner has been taking rest for a while after a hectic home Test season, where he picked plenty of wickets.

Rising Pune Supergiant owner Harsh Goenka has made a constant meal of himself, taking constant sly digs at former India and Rising Pune Supergiant captain MS Dhoni. For this, he has irked many Indian fans and alienated many Rising Pune Supergiant supporters. He has also been constantly trolled on social media. Despite this, he has not learned his lessons, it seems.

After Pune’s victory over Kolkata Knight Riders, Goenka seemingly has again taken potshots at MS Dhoni on Twitter. Here is what he tweeted:

The emoji leaderboard is here, if rankings on Twitter have any founding in a player’s popularity, it seems that MS Dhoni rules over every other cricket star. Dhoni topped the emoji leaderboard on Twitter for four consecutive weeks. New Twitter emojis were created for football stars and the emojis were designed for the IPL 10 season too.

Second in popularity is Gautam Gambhir this week, while Royal Challengers Bangalore skipper Virat Kohli comes in the third spot. Rohit Sharma is in fourth position and Ben Stokes is the last in the top list at fifth spot. You can create an emoji on Twitter by using a hashtag of a player’s name and an emoji will appear after it on the tweet.

Mumbai Indians remain the most talked about team on Twitter because of their brilliant games and outstanding number of victories, and additionally, their busy Facebook page with regular interaction from fans. The most talked about match-up on Twitter is the Gujarat Lions and Mumbai Indians game that happened in Rajkot, which was one of the most thrilling games so far in the IPL. The ‘#GLvMI’ hash tag registered the highest number of mentions.

The 41st match between Kolkata Knight Riders and Rising Pune Supergiant is important for both the teams. KKR need to win this game to assure they end up at the top of the table while RPS is fighting for a position in top 4.

These numbers suggest that this is an exciting contest to watch:

RPS should be wary of Gautam Gambhir as the left-handed batsman averages 55.28 and has been scoring run at a strike rate of 135.31in IPL 2017.

MS Dhoni is nearing yet another milestone as he is just 30 runs short of 3500 IPL runs. He has found form since the last few games and expect him to cross this mark comfortably in today’s game if he gets to bat.

Mahesh Ransubhe has been making and repairing bat for two years. He has repaired bats for stars like Ben Stokes, Virat Kohli, Kedar Jadhav and others, he feels he stays connected to the game. Mahesh has played the game for a long time but had to pursue a business where he could earn as well as stay connected to the game, so he became a bat maker.

Dhoni likes toe of the bat round-shaped’

Former Indian captain MS Dhoni is one of Mahesh’s favourite players and he has also repaired his bat once. While talking to Sportswallah, he said, “I met MS Dhoni during India-England ODI series in Pune. He wanted the bat round at the toe. Generally, cricketers prefer the toe to be straight.”

He also said that out of all the cricketers, he gets nervous repairing the bat of MS Dhoni. On being asked why does he feel nervous, he said, “MS Dhoni is a very big player. He was Indian cricket team captain for long. That is always at back of the mind while repairing his bat.

Former Indian captain MS Dhoni might be turning into a film producer. Deccan Chronicle reported that the Indian wicket-keeper batsman is keen on producing a film on Indian hockey legend Dhyanchand. As per the reports, Dhoni has already acquired the rights of the film and is set to produce it.

It was, once, filmmaker Karan Johar’s most-loved project. He wanted to produce the film himself but things did not turn out well and he had to shelve the project.

Varun Dhawan to play Dhaynchand

Popular Bollywood actor Varun Dhawan is expected to play the lead role. The rumours are that Varun was earlier approached for the role but he had rejected the offer back then. But now Varun is very excited to play the role of the hockey legend and has given his consent to do it.

Indian cricket selectors might announce the squad for ICC Champions Trophy 2017 on May 7 and the talks are high that young guns like Rishabh Pant, Krunal Pandya and Nitish Rana may make the cut in the 15-man squad.

However, two former selectors believe that it is very early to call the shots. Former Indian selector Kiran More opines that experienced players should be going to England. He told Indian Express, “The Champions Trophy (50 overs a side) is a different ball game in England. You need experienced players for that.”

Saba Karim, who also has spent a long time as BCCI selector said that an IPL performance should not be a parameter to pick an ODI team. He told Livemint, “When you are picking a T20 team, then (giving weightage to) IPL performance is fine. If I have to pick just a T20 team, then I can think of Rana, but certainly not for ODIs. I will see what he has done in the Vijay Hazare tournament.”

He added, “Even Pant will get a look only if (MS) Dhoni is injured. Similarly, someone like Krunal Pandya will be seriously considered if Ravindra Jadeja is unfit. However, if Virat Kohli gets injured, I won’t consider because he hasn’t done anything of note in domestic cricket, unlike a Pant or Pandya.”

Rising Pune Supergiant’s skipper Steve Smith has hailed the brilliance of Mahendra Singh Dhoni, saying that their team’s recent turnaround is only because of Dhoni.

The Pune-based outfit got off to a flyer as they outclassed the firm favourites Mumbai Indians in their first game of the tournament, however, a slump of three back to back defeats saw them dropping off some important point. They, however, made a shocking comeback and right at this very moment, they have won four of their last five games and are sitting fourth on the log with 10 points from nine games.

A few months before IPL began, MS Dhoni was sacked from his role as a skipper and in turn, Australia’s Steve Smith was given the nod. This particular decision wasn’t digested well by the supporters and RPS’ owner Sanjiv Goenka was heavily criticized for that. Trying to give a fitting reply, Sanjiv Goenka’s brother Harsh Goenka, after RPS defeated MI, tweeted:

“#RPSvMI Smith proved who’s the king of the jungle. Overshadows Dhoni totally. Captains innings. Great move to appoint him as captain”

The tweet was eventually deleted but in the process, Harsh got himself in the bad books of the spectators.

Players all around the world have been very careful in choosing their jersey numbers. Former Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly played with as many as three numbers. He began with the number 99, then was playing with 1 written on the back of his jersey and in the days when his bat was not producing runs, he had changed to number 24.

One of India’s most successful captains ever, Mahendra Singh Dhoni has 7 written on his back which is also his birth date of the cool and calm MS. He was born on July 7 in 1983.

For Rohit Sharma, the number written on his back doesn’t matter much. He wears 45 on his back. Once when he was asked about the secret behind his jersey number 45, he said, “Well, it’s no secret. I still remember we were in Sri Lanka playing the under-19 World Cup and the match was being telecast on TV but we didn’t have a jersey number till then, it was blank.”

Australian cricket legend Ricky Ponting believes that IPL 2017 could be the last one for former Indian skipper MS Dhoni. In an interview given to cricket.com.au, the former Aussie skipper said, “If you think about Dhoni and his age, this might well be his last IPL. There’s no basis to me saying that. It just seemed like a strange time to move him on as captain if he wasn’t coming towards the end.”

“We’re talking about someone who’s 35 years of age and has pretty much achieved everything in the game. He’s won a World Cup, he’s captained his team to be the No.1 Test team in the world, he’s captained IPL-winning teams as well. “There’s not much left for him to achieve out of the game. It’s going to come down to how hungry he is and how much he wants it.”

‘Criticism downside of having achieved great success’

MS Dhoni has received massive criticism in IPL 2017 for failing with the bat. Ponting believes that such criticism is the downside of having achieved great success earlier. Giving his own example, he said, “I’ve been there myself and when you start to slide just a little bit, criticism is going to come your way. And to be fair, he probably hasn’t had much negativity come his way over the past 15 or 20 years. So it’ll be really interesting to see how he handles that over the coming weeks.”

Sourav Ganguly has denied that he has created an IPL fantasy team without MS Dhoni in it. Reports had earlier emerged that Ganguly had created an IPL fantasy team excluding MS Dhoni from it and replacing him with young Indian sensation Rishab Pant.

Now, Ganguly has taken to his personal Twitter account to deny the claims. Ganguly tweeted out the following message:

KKR were going strong against Rising Pune Supergiant while chasing a stiff 183 on Wednesday night in the 30th match of IPL 2017. The opening pair of Gautam Gambhir-Sunil Narine were going strong at 20 for none after two overs. In the third over, however, a Dhoni special was on offer. On the third ball of the third over, Gautam Gambhir dabbed the Washington Sundar delivery to the fine leg.

The ball deflected by Gambhir reached the short fine leg quickly. They thought of stealing a quick run but Sunil Narine was struggling to the striker’s end. To his good luck, the throw was not on the stumps. To his bad luck, MS Dhoni was standing in front of the stumps.

Dhoni, bringing in use all his genius, easily deflected the ball onto the stumps while Narine was still three inches away from the popping crease. The on-field umpire, unsure of what all happened, went upstairs. The third umpire had a close look of the run-out. And then the screen flashed ‘Out’.

Kolkata Knight Riders’ skipper Gautam Gambhir has come out in support of Mahendra Singh Dhoni, saying that on should not forget the contribution of the former skipper in the Indian Cricket team and also in the Indian Premier League.

The Ranchi-born veteran has been quite a silent cavalier in this season of the Indian Premier League, as he has failed to hit the ground of running so far, and this has seen him being criticized by many of the cricketing experts. Former Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly hailed some harsh words for Dhoni as he said that he isn’t sure as to whether Dhoni still has the fire in him to play the T-20 format.

“I am not too sure if Dhoni is a good T20 player. He is a champion ODI player but when it comes to T20 cricket, in 10 years, he has got one fifty and that’s not the best record.”

And now, with the Knight Riders bracing themselves for an all-important visit to Pune against Steve Smith’s men today, Gambhir has hailed the brilliance of MS Dhoni, saying:

“There is no one like a finisher or a starter. Ultimately, the one who scores the winning run is a finisher, irrespective of whether he’s an opening batsman or No 11. What matters is how much you are contributing. If you can win matches for your team, you are a finisher,” Gambhir told reporters ahead of KKR’s match against Rising Pune Supergiant at the MCA Stadium here.

In a funny video released by Gulf Oil India, official sponsors for Rising Pune Supergiant, England and Rising Pune Supergiant all-rounder Ben Stokes called MS Dhoni as a ‘Bollywood Hero’ and Steve Smith, the Australian captain as the ‘Bollywood Villain’.

When asked which two Supergiants you think are definitely Bollywood ‘Hero’ and ‘Villain’ material, Ben Stokes answered MS Dhoni as the hero, poor Steve Smith was the villain. It could also be because of the fact that England and Australia are the oldest rivals in cricket and with Ashes coming up, Stokes subtly let’s know Smith where does he stand for him.

Rising Pune Supergiant batsman MS Dhoni smashed 61 runs off 34 balls to win the match for his side and that too on the last ball, living up to his reputation of a match winner. Dhoni had been criticized massively for his poor form with the bat in the last few matches of IPL 2017. However, he came good in the last match against Sunrisers Hyderabad.

The time of the knock is very important as Pune are looking to get things sorted as the tournament reaches the half-way stage of the tournament. The world of Twitter hailed MS Dhoni for his super knock on Saturday. From Indian captain Virat Kohli to Virender Sehwag, everyone praised the former Indian captain.

Mumbai Indians batsman, who is healing an injury, Ambati Rayudu went one step further in praising the Captain Cool. While he praised Dhoni for his superb knock, he also took a jibe at brother of owner of Rising Pune Supergiant, Harsh Goenka. He had been amidst controversy in the recent past for taking potshot at Dhoni.

When Dhoni won a game for RPS, Ambati thought of giving it back to Harsh Goenka in his own manner.

30 runs required off 12 balls. MS Dhoni on strike. It is going down the wire, you know. The first ball of the second last is a wide. You know that the pressure is on whom?

Cut to the last ball of the last over of the match. MS Dhoni is again on strike. Pune require 2 off the last ball. It is a good delivery, pitched full and difficult and Dhoni slashes it through the covers for four. This is it. The RPS dugout is ecstatic, jumping in elation. But for Dhoni, it is just another day in the office. However, he was not having great days in the office for quite some time now. He needed to, maybe, change his style of play, maybe his batting order or maybe his luck. A few things were in his hand and a few not out of it. One thing that he could have done, amidst all the criticism and hoopla, is that belief in himself and his ability of a match-winner which he has carried all through the last 12 years.

He did just that when he slashed the four through the covers. Dhoni’s 34-ball-61 helped RPS win the third game of IPL 2017 but more importantly, it gave a side down the low self-confidence, a chance to show to the world that they can, too, belong here.

Earlier in the game, Sunrisers Hyderabad had posted 176 for 3 in their quota of 20 overs. It looked a daunting task when a flurry of wickets followed in Pune innings. However, Dhoni made sure that he was back at doing what he has been doing for all these years.

Gujarat Lions captain Suresh Raina has defended former India and Rising Pune Supergiant captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, demanding more respect for him. Mahendra Singh Dhoni has come under increasing pressure from certain sections of the media and the fans for his lack of form in the 10th edition of the IPL and have stated that he should be dropped from the Indian squad in order to promote younger talents such as Sanju Samson and Rishabh Pant.

Dhoni has played a key role in Raina’s career showing unwavering trust in the left-hander when he was his skipper in the Indian team and IPL franchise Chennai Super Kings. Dhoni was removed from the captaincy of Rising Pune Supergiant, with the management stating that they wanted someone with fresh ideas to lead the team.

The Supreme Court today quashed a criminal complaint lodged against ace cricketer Mahendra Singh Dhoni in an Andhra Pradesh trial court for allegedly hurting religious sentiments by depicting himself as Lord Vishnu on a magazine cover.

The apex court also quashed the criminal complaint against the Editor of the magazine and said that the offence under section 295A (hurting religious sentiments) of the IPC is not made out against them as they did not maliciously hurt the religious sentiments of the complainant.

A bench comprising Justices Dipak Misra, A. M. Khanwilkar and M M Shantanagoudar said “it would be a travesty of justice” if the cricketer and the co-accused editor are prosecuted in the case.

The instant complaint was lodged against Dhoni and others at a trial court in Anantapur in Andhra Pradesh.

The apex court had on September 5 last year quashed a similar case lodged against Dhoni and others in Karnataka and set aside the High Court order which had refused to stall the proceedings against them.

Former Indian and Rising Pune Supergiant captain MS Dhoni has been criticized for his failure to score runs with the bat. He has scored just 61 runs in 5 games he has played so far, which is a very bad performance, going by his standards.

This sudden failure with the bat for Dhoni is putting a lot of pressure on him. In the last match against Royal Challengers Bangalore, he looked like coming back into the groove with a huge six off Yuzvendra Chahal, which almost went out of the stadium.

However, a few overs later, Dhoni played on a delivery to his stumps and this yet another failure brought a disgust expression even on his face.

Since the start of the IPL, Dhoni has been the centre of attraction for all the wrong reasons. The brother of the owner of RPS, Harsh Goenka, had been putting tweets against his failure. These are not direct attack on Dhoni but a subtle dig at him.

Also, Sourav Ganguly came out calling Dhoni, an average T20 player. Rubbishing all such judgements, Australian leg-spinning legend Shane Warne had come out in support of Dhoni, saying that Mahi is a world-class player and he has got nothing to prove.

Shane Warne posted on his Facebook account to reveal what he feels. He said, “All this rubbish talk about MSDhoni, he does not have to prove anything to anyone, he’s all class & a wonderful player in all formats. MS is also a great captain & inspires others ! Do you agree ? Let me know?”

CID has taken the case of Gujarat Lions’ batsman Aaron Finch’s lost kit bag. Finch lost his kit bag just before the game against Mumbai Indians at Wankhede. He was replaced by England opener Jason Roy in the team.

It has been learnt that famous that CID team, inclusing ACP Pradyuman, Inspector Daya and Abhijeet have taken the case in their hands and has also promised Finch that the culprit will be brought in front of him soon.

Finch was devastated on learning that he had lost his kit bag. He was sitting in one corner in dressing room when suddenly ACP Pradyuman came and gave him confidence that he will solve the case.

One being asked how ACP is going to search for the bag, he said, “We don’t reveal our working style as it will give indication to the culprit. However, we have doubts on Jason Roy as he might have stolen it to get a place in the team.”

Abhijeet, too, sounded very confident on finding the kit bag. He said, “We will go and search for the bag in Finch’s room. We know we won’t get any lead at the first time. So, ACP Pradyuman will send us again to his room and then, I am sure, we will be able to find some proof related to the theft as has been the case with all of our past cases.”

It looked like he was struggling. It seemed like he was totally out of form. It seemed like he doesn’t have it in him anymore. It looked like the end of MS Dhoni. But just like MS Dhoni, out of the blue, Dhoni decided to send one out of the park and how!

In the 14th over against Yuzvendra Chahal, Dhoni was facing ball no 1 and was trying to attack him by stepping down the track. After a couple of initial hiccups, Dhoni decided to stay in his crease and whack it over mid-wicket. Luckily for him, the ball did not travel all the way with Adam Milne in the deep sweeping up the ball for just a single. Ball no 5 – Smith on strike. Wide ball.

In the next season of the Indian Premier League, the return of two-time champion Chennai Super Kings and the first season champion Rajasthan Royals has been confirmed and the BCCI has also started the preparations for the return of both teams. Both Chennai Superkings and Rajasthan Royals were banned for two years by the Supreme Court after they were found guilty in a spot-fixing case, and the ban will come to an end next year. Both the teams will be a part of the Indian Premier League which will be hitting its 11th season next.On the other side, according to the media reports, Chennai Super Kings have started preparations for the return.

On the other side, according to the media reports, Chennai Super Kings have started preparations for the return of their skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni. According to the Times of India news, “Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who was removed from the captaincy of Rising Pune Superjoint, is in full swing to go to CSK.” And once the IPL 2017 is over, Dhoni will again see a Chennai Superkings crest on his chest.

There is no denying the fact that India’s former skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni is losing his magic in the shortest format of the game, and many of the cricketing experts have had their say regarding the same.

Even in this season’s Indian Premier League, the Ranchi-born veteran has failed to speak anything positive with his bat. So far, he carries a batting stat of 12-ball 12, in the first game, 11-ball 5 in second, 14-ball 11 in third and an 8-ball 5 in their previous fixture against Gujarat Lions.

Speaking on Dhoni’s T-20 form, former skipper Ganguly said:

“I am not too sure if Dhoni is a good T20 player. He is a champion ODI player but when it comes to T20 cricket, in 10 years, he has got one fifty and that’s not the best record.”

Former Indian cricketer Virender Sehwag said that he expects MS Dhoni to be back in form soon. The Former India captain has been in the line of attack from the critics for his back-to-back failures with the bat in IPL 2017.

Sehwag said that it is not right to write off a player of Dhoni’s stature on the basis of a few failures. He said, “The position at which he’s coming in to bat is very difficult. He is still the best at No. 5 or No. 6,” said Viru. “There’s no doubt that he will be back in form sooner rather than later. There’s a lot of time left in the IPL. One should not judge a player of Dhoni’s stature just by the outcome of three-four games.”

He made another valid point of not judging Dhoni’s capability as a player in a tournament like IPL. He said, “IPL should not be a platform to judge an experienced player like Dhoni. It’s fine if you judge a youngster on the basis of IPL as it is difficult for a newcomer to showcase his talent in front of a huge crowd” added Sehwag that he recently scored an ODI hundred against England which still shows his worth in the team and also a worth of his form.”

It is the battle between two teams, which are perceived to be the worst teams in the current edition of the IPL. Few people have given both Gujarat Lions or Rising Pune Supergiant any chance of winning the current edition of the IPL. This does not mean that both teams are deprived of quality players in their ranks. Gujarat have the likes of Brendon McCullum and Aaron Finch in their ranks while Pune has arguably the best batsman in the world currently in the form of Steve Smith. But one batsman, we haven’t heard much of during the 10th edition of IPL is former Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni.

Dhoni made all the headlines before the 10th edition of the IPL after Sanjiv Goenka, owner of Rising Pune Supergiant decided to unceremoniously sack him as the captain of the franchise, citing that they needed someone with fresh ideas in charge of the team. Dhoni to his credit made no fuss about this decision by the franchise conducting himself in a manner associated with a gentleman.

In an effort to rescue their sliding campaign, Sanjiv Goenka has recalled Ravichandran Ashwin back into the squad which the off-spinner has agreed to, much to the dismay of his former captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni. Dhoni has sworn to be an enemy of Goenka for the rest of his life, wanting nothing but destruction for Goenka after he unceremoniously dropped him as the captain of the team.

Goenka, in order to persuade Ashwin to make an early comeback from his injury, has promised to double Ashwin’s salary, arranged for a personal private jet for his travels and has also taken a pledge from captain Steve Smith that he will go easy on Ashwin and not hit him all over the park whenever India face Australia.

Former Australian bowler Brett Lee has heaped praises of Mahendra Singh Dhoni, even though the former skipper has failed to speak anything rocky through his bat on the pitch.

Rising Pune Supergiant have played three games so far this season, winning one and losing three, and in all of it, Dhoni has been a silent knight throughout. The first game, against Mumbai Indians, saw Steve Smith dismantling the visitors and in the midst, Dhoni scored a 12-ball 12. While in the second and third game, the former skipper only managed an 11-ball 5 and 14-ball 11 respectively, hence, raising a couple of eyebrows about his form in the shortest format of the game.

Analyzing all this, India’s former skipper Sourav Ganguly made a shocking, claiming that he is ‘not too sure if Dhoni is a good T20 player.’

Former Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly made a shocking claim about the ex-Rising Pune Supergiant captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni.

The 44-year-old Kolkata-born, while talking to India Today, has said that there is no denying the fact that Dhoni is a true Champion in the ODI format, but same cannot be said about his T-20 form.

And in all awareness, ‘dada’ is right without a slightest of doubt. It is fair to say that Dhoni is past his prime now and T-20 is a format where the player needs to in the form of his life. And Dhoni is certainly not delivering that. In Pune Supergiant’s opening fixture of the tournament, Steve Smith handled his side by dismantling the bowlers all ends while Dhoni, on the other hand, scored 12 runs from 12 balls.

If there is one team which is having too much fun off the field, it is the Rising Pune Supergiant. MS Dhoni, Ajinkya Rahane and Ben Stokes have been having great fun. On some days they are shaking a leg together and on some days, they are seen having a go at each other.

Recently, the trio was spotted participating in a fun quiz together. In the quiz, the cricketers had to pick Q cards one by one in which questions related to each other were written. In order to answer the questions, they have to pick the face mask put on the table in front of them.

The quiz gets funnier after every question and almost all of them got the right answers, except on one occasion when Dhoni was not able to answer a tricky question. This one question we are talking about is ‘who scored the fastest 250?’

Rising Pune Supergiant got off to a sensational start this season, as they got the better of the Rohit Sharma-led Mumbai Indians, and in the process, Steve Smith once again proved his worth to the cricketing world. The newly-appointed skipper scored a whopping 54-ball 84 and caught the spotlight eventually.

His contribution, alongside Rahane’s 60 off just 34 balls, proved out to the ultimate decider and it didn’t take long for the RPS officials to praise their decision of appointing Smith as the captain of the Pune franchise. Specifically, Harsh Goenka, the chairman of RPG Enterprises and brother of RPS owner Sanjiv Goenka came in the midst of some heavily trolls by the cricketing fans after his tweet about Smith’s appointment caught the attention of everyone.

Rising Pune Supergiant got the better of their nemesis Mumbai Indians in the first Maharashtra derby of this season’s VIVO IPL, as skipper Steve Smith proving out to be the ultimate decider.

The visitors took their campaign off to a blistering start, but Imran Tahir’s brilliance proved out to be too hot to handle. The South African bowler simply outclassed Parthiv Patel, Jos Buttler and Rohit Sharma and was on the verge of clinching his fourth wicket.

In the 15th over of the game, Tahir was given the nod with Kieron pollard standing on the other end of the field. His delivery caught the pad of Pollard and Imran went for an appeal, and Dhoni, who was standing behind the stumps, joined the plead as he too thought that the decision would go in their favour. But unfortunately for them, umpire S Ravi had other ideas and turned it down.

Mumbai Indians had a blistering start to their campaign as Jos Butler dismantled everything Rising Pune Supergiant threw at him. However, every good thing as a conclusion and Butler’s perplex was no different. The English batsman was shown his way back to pavilion by Imran Tahir, however, the replays showed that the delivery first caught the slice of the bat before hitting his pad.

In the midst of all this, a moment of hilarity was seen in the second over of the game. Manoj Tiwary, who was standing next to captain cool MS Dhoni on the slip, was given the mic and former England batsman Kevin Pietersen was at the other end of it. The 36-year-old commentator tried to get take a dig at M.S Dhoni as he commented on his Golfing skills, and Dhoni’s response to this was just epic.

In the second match of the 10th edition of the IPL between Rising Pune Supergiant and Mumbai Indians at the Maharashtra Cricket Association stadium in Pune, history will be created. It will be the first time in the history of IPL that Mahendra Singh Dhoni will not lead his franchise out on the field. MS Dhoni led Chennai Superkings in the first eight editions of the IPL and led Rising Pune Supergiant in their maiden campaign in the ninth edition. But after a disastrous debut season, Pune decided to bring in a change in leadership and replace MS Dhoni with Australian captain Steve Smith at the helm. The reason behind this decision given was that the team need fresh ideas from a young leader.

MS Dhoni is gearing up to play a vital part in Rising Pune Supergiant’s second season in the IPL. Even though he was sacked as the skipper of the franchise and replaced by Australian captain Steve Smith. Despite losing his position as the captain of the team, Dhoni will be hoping to make a worthwhile contribution in Pune’s campaign, in what could be their final season in the IPL. For supergiants to succeed, they will need MS Dhoni to fire on all cylinders.

Dhoni has finally joined the training camp of Pune ahead of their IPL campaign. The Pune-based franchise uploaded a video on their Facebook page, showing Dhoni arriving for their training camp in his typical swagger.

The newly-appointed Captain of Rising Pune Supergiant Steve Smith knows that he has big shoes to fill, not only in terms of replacing a legendary captain but also in improving his side’s fate this year.

Steve Smith’s father Peter Smith feels the same and believed that it is a privilege to lead any side. Smith’s father was quoted as saying, “It is a great privilege to be asked to captain any side. The Supergiant franchise has a number of good international and Indian players and it would be very exciting to have the opportunity to lead them.”

On this day in April 2, the chapters of Indian cricket changed forever. A six over long on and with Dhoni glaring at the ball till it convincingly landed someone near a fan who was already in tears, gave India their 2nd ever World Cup, after the Kapil Dev-led one in 1983. This was a different fairytale though. Right from the start of the tournament, India were dominant, ruthless and under MS Dhoni, learned the art of chasing to perfection. For a team which earlier had the reputation of cracking while chasing, to Dhoni finishing it off in style with a six, Indian cricket has come a long way.

If Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni is known to keep his emotions and words in check, his wife Sakshi is just the opposite. While she does not make the news very often but on Tuesday, she was firing all guns when an information related to the former Indian captain and her husband MS Dhoni’s Aadhar card was revealed on social media and it was brought to the notice of Minister of Information and Technology Ravi Shankar Prasad by Sakshi.

If there is one thing that is going around in minds of Mahendra Singh Dhoni fans, it is the question of whether he is going to play in the 2019 World Cup or not? Especially, after he stepped down from captaincy, the talks are that he might call it a day after the Champions Trophy this year.

Former Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni is known for keeping his calm on the field. However, on Saturday, after losing the semi-final against Bengal in the Vijay Hazare Trophy, the World Cup-winning captain, reportedly lost his cool.

Former Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni has filed a complaint at a Delhi police station after losing his 3 mobile phones. According to the complaint filed by Dhoni, his 3 phones, including an IPhone were stolen during a fire mishap at a New Delhi hotel. The former Indian captain is in Delhi, participating in the Vijay Hazare trophy with his state team Jharkhand, which he is leading. The matches are his final practice matches before he participates in the ICC Champions Trophy, which will take place in June.

The semi-final clash of Vijay Hazare Trophy tournament on Saturday became a clash of two former Indian captains as well. MS Dhoni, who resigned from ODI and T20I captaincy in January this year, is leading the Jharkhand team in the tournament. He has played some really good knocks in the competition, taking his team to the knockout stages.

There is no competition to cricket in India as it ranks highest not only in terms of the most number of views but also in terms of the money and compensation received by the cricketers. The cricketers aren’t only paid a handsome amount for their skills on field, they’re also earning a huge amount through endorsements.

When it comes to style and grace, our Indian cricketers are very capable of giving our Bollywood heroes a run for their money. After all, who wouldn’t love to check out a few tan-sexy faces all decked up!?

Here is a mix of the new-age and the veteran cricketers who’ve won hearts not only on field, but also off field: